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Equity and
Climate Action:
BRIEFING
MAY 2009
International
Greenpeace Position
Greenpeace position on equity and climate action
Recent scientific findings coupled with better
understanding of the risks associated with global
temperature increase provide a stark warning to the
world: our climate system is far more sensitive than we
previously believed and serious risks related to species
extinction, extreme weather events, overall impacts and
their distribution as well as large-scale discontinuities
(such as melting ice sheets) are now estimated to occur
with much smaller temperature increases.
There is an urgent need for bold action on a global scale
to bring greenhouse gas emissions down as close to zero
as possible by mid-century in order to avoid catastrophic
climate change – and all countries will need to participate
in this effort.
Governments at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in
December 2009 must reach agreement on a deal that
sets robust and ambitious targets for emissions
reductions and provides financial and other support to
enable developing countries to take a low carbon
development pathway and to adapt to the unavoidable
impacts of climate change.
While industrialised countries must take the lead by
adopting ambitious and deep economy-wide reductions
in emissions, developing countries will also be expected
to participate as the existing carbon and energy-intensive
development pathway is simply unsustainable in climate
terms. Opting for carbon-free and climate-friendly
development offers enormous sustainable development
opportunities for both developing and industrialised
countries.
One of the most crucial issues in future agreements will
be the question of who does what and by when. The
answer to this question will need to be built on the
following fairness and equity principles; principles that
should guide all current and future international
negotiations on actions to limit global warming.
2 Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
There is an urgent need for
bold action on a global scale
to bring greenhouse gas
emissions down as close to
zero as possible by mid-century
in order to avoid catastrophic
climate change – and all
countries will need to
participate in this effort.
© GREENPEACE / XUAN CANXIONG
Creating jobs and
increasing energy security
A maintenance engineer
inspects a wind turbine at the
Nan wind farm in Nan'ao,
Guangdong Province, home to
the best wind resources in
China and several industrialscale wind farms. Investments
in renewable energy offer
enormous opportunities for
creating new jobs, increasing
energy security and fighting
climate change.
1) Climate action must be both fair
and equitable
2) Climate action offers development
opportunities
The world faces many challenges: dangerous climate change and its
many severe impacts on human life and the environment; continuing
biodiversity loss at an unprecedented rate; and the increasing
inequality between rich and poor, to name but a few. In recent years
governments have adopted some (weak) agreements to tackle these
issues, but these initiatives are far from sufficient.
It has become increasingly clear that dangerous climate change will
make development extremely costly, if not impossible, for many
communities around the world. In contrast, taking decisive, equitable
action to tackle the climate issue will create new development
opportunities and help to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
For example, the Kyoto Protocol's ambition to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from industrialised countries by 5% by 2012 was politically
challenging to negotiate but is a very small first step in the context of
the achievements - and future agreements - that will be required and
negotiated in the coming decade. The Millennium Development Goals
aim at halving poverty by 2015, which even if achieved would still leave
more than a billion people surviving on less than two US dollars a day.
It is clear that climate change will exacerbate both poverty and
inequality. The poorest - the majority of whom are women - will be hit
first and hardest by climate change even though they have contributed
least to the problem. Preventing dangerous climate change is essential
if we hope to eradicate poverty. In this context, all climate action - be it
at the international, national or local levels - needs to be equitable. It
must take into account the responsibilities and capacities of nations to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and should not increase the
vulnerability of poor people and marginalised communities.
Greenpeace rejects the ideological argument that economic
development and climate action are incompatible, and that
conventional ‘fossil-fuelled’ development must come first. Any
sustainable future for our planet will have to be carbon free. Facilitating
the transition of poor countries to a carbon-free development path will
avoid raising emissions levels for years to come and avert the
associated costs of ‘decarbonising’ society in the future. Furthermore,
there is little evidence that global macro-economic growth alone will
ever eliminate poverty.
Climate action can contribute to achieving genuinely sustainable
development by improving access to energy services, increasing
support for sustainable agriculture, expanding forest protection and
creating access to jobs in a low-carbon global economy. Of course,
climate action cannot solve all the problems of poverty and inequality.
But, making climate action fair and integrating ‘climate-proofing’ making sure that investment in developing countries doesn’t
unnecessarily add to climate change or create vulnerable infrastructure
or institutions - into development and related policies such as trade will
be essential.
Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
3
3) Consumption patterns must be more
sustainable
Current economic growth in the developed world and future
development in poor countries is based on oil and other fossil fuels. It
has fostered lifestyles and consumption patterns – or aspirations to
such lifestyles - that are unsustainable under any energy system, since
they assume unlimited availability of natural resources and cheap
labour.
The globalisation of both consumption and production of goods and
the international trade they encompass have created huge additional
pressures on the environment and on the climate in particular.
Globally, consumers need to make their consumption patterns more
sustainable - but people in rich countries also need to take
responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions in countries abroad
that are linked to their own consumption patterns. A quarter or more of
emissions of certain developing countries is linked to products
exported to industrialised countries.
4 Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
4) Industrialised nations must take the lead
The international community has acknowledged that we need to
address both climate change and equity by agreeing that nations
must act ‘on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common
but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’.
Industrialised countries are expected to take the lead in combating
climate change. In the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol this translates
as economy-wide caps on greenhouse gas emissions for industrialised
countries only. Due to their historic responsibilities for emitting
greenhouse gases that persist in the atmosphere today, as well as
their high per capita emissions and their significant capacity to act,
industrialised countries as a group need to reduce their emissions by
at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020, with at least three quarters of
this needing to be met by domestic action.
5) All countries need to participate
in climate action
Since the first assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1990, it has been clear that even if
industrialised countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions
to zero, it will not be enough to stabilise atmospheric CO2
concentrations. Hence action by all countries is needed to prevent
dangerous climate change. Developing countries will need to take on
measures, based on their differing capacities and circumstances, to
limit current and certainly future greenhouse gas emissions.
This can range from developing sectoral targets to setting economywide caps. Countries with the clear capacity to act should take on
economy-wide commitments during the second commitment period
of the Kyoto Protocol. Others should follow later, when their capacity
to reduce emissions - which industrialised countries must actively
support with technology transfer and financing – has been developed.
At the 2007 Climate Summit in Bali, developing countries agreed to
develop ‘measurable, reportable and verifiable’ actions after 2012 that
will enable them to limit or reduce their emissions. A large number of
developing countries can reduce emissions in specific sectors by
setting a renewable energy or energy efficiency target or by developing
programmes to halt deforestation. The commitments made in Bali by
industrialised countries to support these efforts with technology
transfer and financing must be translated into visible action.
© J SORIANO / SILVERLENS / GP
Climate Change starves the
poor, threatens food security
Farmers with corn damaged
by severe drought, Surallah,
Cotabato, Philippines in 2005.
When an extreme drought struck,
farmers reported that the harvest
was less than one third the normal
yield. The country's worst drought
in 50 years affected around
700,000 people. Rising
temperatures will increase the
risks of droughts and other
extreme weather events in
developing countries and will
primarily hit the poor.
6) Internal equity
Even in poor, developing countries there are groups of people who
contribute to greenhouse gas emissions at grossly unsustainable
levels. The political elites in these countries often use average
emissions figures to justify continuing on a business-as-usual path –
effectively hiding behind the poor. Governments need to take strong
measures to ensure that rich people in developing countries reduce
their own emissions in the same way as rich people in industrialised
countries must reduce theirs. There is no acceptable argument for rich
people in developing countries not to participate in necessary lifestyle
changes.
At the same time, the poor and marginalised in industrialised countries
also suffer from lack of access to energy services while being the first
victims of climate change in their countries. Equitable climate action at the national, regional and local levels - needs to take into account
the increasing inequality within nations.
National governments must develop policies to ensure that climate
action does not increase inequality but instead reduces the gap, for
instance by providing access to decentralised and clean energy that
does not concentrate pollution in marginalised communities.
Governments should also ensure that local communities participate in
decision-making processes on reducing emissions and adapting to
climate change, and assist them in funding and implementing climate
adaptation measures.
Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
5
7) Sharing the mitigation effort
8) Rich countries’ responsibilities go
beyond their own emissions
The question ‘Who should do what and by when?’ must be answered
on the basis of specific criteria that take into account countries'
responsibility (current and historical emissions), capability, relative
wealth and income and the potential to reduce emissions and support
others to do the same. A fair and equitable way of sharing the
mitigation effort and assigning responsibility for funding, based on
these criteria, is needed.
Equitable climate action must take into account historical responsibility
and the capacity to act. Under these principles, industrialised countries
will have to take on long-term commitments that go beyond their own
emissions. They must reduce their own emissions to zero, and in
addition must also finance mitigation and adaptation in poorer
countries.
While comparisons based on current per capita CO2 emissions give a
good indication of the huge discrepancy in emissions between rich
and poor countries and clearly show the overwhelming primary
responsibility of rich countries, equal per capita emissions rights do not
provide for an equitable or even effective framework to shape the
future climate change regime under the UNFCCC. Equal per capita
emissions rights do not take into account historical emissions or the
capacity to act. Equitable climate action should not focus on a right to
emit - and hence to pollute – either, but instead provide access to
energy services and promote sustainable development.
This means providing adequate and predictable new financial
resources for climate action in developing countries. Assessments
from sources such as the UNFCCC3, Sir Nicholas Stern4 and Oxfam5
estimate the total costs for mitigation, technology cooperation,
adaptation and halting deforestation at around USD 140 billion per
annum. This is far less than the annual global defence expenditure
(USD 1,339 billion6) and only a fraction of total global GDP (USD 54
trillion7). It is comparable to current ODA (USD 104 billion8), (which is
itself less than half the ODA promised by industrialised countries in
1970 (0.7% of GDP).
Greenpeace supports the principles behind the Greenhouse
Development Rights (GDR) framework1 and considers it to be the
rules-based proposal that matches our principles most closely. The
GDR framework puts forward three criteria: historic emissions (starting
from 1990); current per capita emissions; and per capita income (but
only for those inhabitants with an income above €7,500 a year PPP).
Clearly, more money is needed for responding to climate change and
these resources must be in addition to the long-promised ODA. At
minimum, current financial assistance for developing countries needs
to triple.
Use of the GDR as an operational framework for negotiations would
require further development as well as a major shift in the way effort
sharing is dealt with in both the Kyoto Protocol and the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change. Therefore, Greenpeace is not calling
for its immediate implementation, nor do we support the GDR authors’
call to delay the start of the second commitment period of the Kyoto
Protocol.
1
Baer P. et.al. 2008: The Greenhouse Development Rights Framework. The right to
development in a climate constrained world. Heinrich Böll Foundation, Christian Aid,
Ecoequity and the Stockholm Environment Institute. (www.ecoequity.org/GDRs)
2
GTZ. 2004: South-North Dialogue on Equity in the Greenhouse. A proposal for an
adequate and equitable Global Climate Agreement. Federal Ministry for Economic
Development and Cooperation of Germany.
www.wupperinst.org/uploads/tx_wiprojekt/1085_proposal.pdf
3
UNFCCC 2007: Report on the analysis of existing and potential investments and financial
flows relevant to the development of an effective and appropriate international response
to climate change. August 2007.
http://unfccc.int/files/cooperation_and_support/financial_mechanism/financial_mechanis
m_gef/application/pdf/dialogue_working_paper_8.pdf
4
Stern N. 2006: Stern review: The economics of climate change. HM Treasury. www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm)
5
Oxfam 2007: Financing adaptation: what's needed in developing countries and who
should pay. www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp104_climate_change_0705
6
SIPRI 2008: SIPRI Yearbook 2008. Oxford University Press.
http://yearbook2008.sipri.org
7
World Bank 2008: Gross Domestic Product 2007.
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/GDP.pdf
8
OECD 2008: Debt relief is down: other ODA rises slightly. OECD. April 2008.
www.oecd.org/document/8/0,3343,en_2649_201185_40381960_1_1_1_1,00.html
In the interim, Greenpeace believes the concept proposed by the
South-North Dialogue2, while not addressing the issue of internal
equity, offers a better opportunity to integrate our principles into an
effort-sharing proposal for the second commitment period.
6 Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
© GREENPEACE / MICHAEL AMENDOLIA
Protecting the forests and
forest peoples' livelihoods
Loading a barge with
ecotimber in Lake Murray,
Papua New Guinea. Any effort
to reduce emissions from
deforestation must respect
indigenous peoples' and local
communities rights and
support their livelihoods.
9) Markets and funds
A global carbon market will play an essential role in providing the
necessary funds for mitigation and adaptation programmes in
developing countries. However, market mechanisms alone will
not be sufficient to bring about the rapid global reductions needed,
nor can they achieve the equity objectives as stated above.
As well as delivering more genuine carbon reductions, market
mechanisms must be structured to ensure that they contribute to
sustainable development. It is also necessary to ensure that mitigation
and adaptation support reaches the poor by developing specific
funding mechanisms under the framework of the UNFCCC that can
deal with transfer of financial support to mitigation, adaptation and
reduced deforestation.
The massive funding needed should largely be raised through
auctioning or selling of emission permits, at national and international
levels. The governance of these mechanisms must be democratic,
inclusive and transparent, and allow participation and input from those
directly involved. It must also ensure that all funding is spent in the
most timely and effective way possible and adheres to the highest
environmental and social standards agreed by the international
community in previous decades.
Equity and Climate Action: Greenpeace Position
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Greenpeace is an independent global
campaigning organisation that acts
to change attitudes and behaviour,
to protect and conserve the
environment and to
promote peace.
Published by
Greenpeace International
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1066 AZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 20 7182000
For more information contact:
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